In the Dark

by Melody Taylor

  “You are too pale,” he said, a pretty obvious way of saying “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” “You must feed. We should go.”

  “Are you sorry you told me?” I asked.

  That made him think a moment. Almost as if it surprised him, he shook his head. “No.”

  I smiled a little. “I’m not, either.”

  For a little moment, neither of us said anything. Just stood there, me with my hand on his back, him looking at me as if he’d never seen me before. Then he stepped away from my hand and went to the door, holding it open for me. “Come,” he said. “There are things to do yet tonight. You must feed. I must hunt.”

  As I passed him, I paused. “Thanks, Sebastian.” I meant for the lesson in self-control this time. For making an impression on me.

  He inclined his head. “Of course.”

  We left the practice room.

  IAN

  A sound made me pause as Sebastian and I stepped out of the practice room. The acoustics in the apartment muffled the noise, but I could still hear it. Guitar. Coming from Amanda’s room.

  I paused in the hallway, listening. The twang of the strings stopped, then started again, then stopped again. I knew that sound. Kent did it all the time – used to do it all the time. Amanda was working on a new song.

  Whether or not she was speaking to me, whether or not becoming a vampire was the very best or worst thing for her, she still had it in her to work on her music. A knot in my chest loosened a little.

  Sebastian’s eyes glinted in a faint smile. I smiled back. This wasn’t fixed. But I had some small sense that maybe, just maybe, it could be. I listened for a second more, then followed Sebastian back down the hall into the living room.

  Josephine rose from her chair when we came in, her eyes darkly troubled, her mouth pulled down. She came straight to me and put her arms around me. I blinked, until I realized that Sebastian had his stoic face back on. She was more worried about me and the crap going on in my world right now. I had to wonder if they’d been talking about me. Sebastian had seemed to have his grab-me-and-beat-me plan all figured out earlier.

  “You’re not alone, you know,” Josephine murmured into my hair. “We’re here for you. Both of you.”

  That brought tears to my eyes. I hadn’t realized how alone I’d felt until Sebastian had started wailing on me. Well, not that part, the part after, but still. Hearing Josephine tell me out loud that I had help filled me with relief.

  “Thank you.” I hugged her back. “I really need you guys right now. So does Amanda.”

  Josephine gave me a little extra squeeze, then let me go. “Put on a clean shirt. Go get some food in you.” She brushed my hair from my face and I wanted to cry even more. It was such a maternal gesture. “We can talk when you get back.”

  I wiped my eyes and nodded. Went to change shirts.

  Sebastian stood patiently beside the elevator. Once I’d joined him, he hit the call button. His mood had shifted gears. His eyes were dark and brooding, not looking at me, or really at anything in particular. Seeing things in his head that he did not like. Angry things this time, not sad. The elevator opened and we stepped on.

  I wanted to ask what was going through his mind, then figured he was probably plotting. I didn’t want to interrupt. Still, I gazed at him, which he took as an outright question.

  His hands tightened into fists at his sides, then released. His face didn’t change a hair. “Four nights. We have four nights left before Specter comes for us. Three have been wasted so far. I do not know what else to try. The pack will not show themselves and allow me to follow them, I cannot track them in this forest of cement, and my defense against their attack on the penthouse consists of myself, a well-trained but inexperienced swordswoman, and two children. Our only advantage is the limited number of entrances to our refuge.”

  Now my mood shifted gears. I swallowed. “You don’t sound too hopeful.”

  “I’m not.”

  “We have to fight,” I said, my voice going a little high-pitched. I tried to swallow down the panic.

  Sebastian glanced at me. “Of course we must. We may even survive. If all falls out exactly in our favor.”

  That didn’t sound promising. I stared at the numbers above the door, little red lights counting the floors as we approached the garage level. Trying not to wonder if we would all die in a couple of days.

  No, there has to be something we can do. We just have to brainstorm and come up with it. We can make this work.

  “We should all sit down and talk it over tonight,” I said. “Maybe we can work out some kind of idea.”

  Sebastian nodded once, but I got the feeling he barely heard me. He was too busy working out and rejecting his own plans. With a worried frown, I left him to it. The elevator stopped on “G” and the doors slid open on the parking garage.

  In the same moment I saw them standing there, Sebastian had his sword out and leaped in front of me, quicker than my thoughts could finish forming.

  A thin young man with long black hair sat on the hood of Sebastian’s car. The alarm wasn’t going off. A handful of other people stood surrounding him. I didn’t know them and didn’t trust them.

  They could only be the pack.

  “Well, well, well!” the dark-haired man said as he stood up off the hood of the Vector. “Look who finally came out to play!”

  GARAGE

  “Specter,” Sebastian growled.

  He tightened his grip on his sword, waiting for the trick this time. Waiting to find out why Specter had come. How they had gotten in was simple: Dragon stood to the rear of the group, a tiny smile on his lips. Technology had always fascinated him, from flintlock rifles to laser beam security systems. Sebastian had never fooled himself that the security this building offered would keep his pack out, had they decided they wanted to enter.

  He flicked his eyes over his packmates’ faces, searching for more than smugness. A reason. A hint of plans. He saw nothing there, but he had to admit the rest of the pack might be unaware of Specter’s plans. In order to keep them cooperative, Specter would have to keep the extent of his desires hidden.

  “My dear old friend,” Specter announced, arms wide. “Please do forgive the intrusion. You see, I have decided to retract my offer.”

  He swept a hand in Shroud’s direction. Ian made a distressed sound behind Sebastian.

  Shroud lifted his head at Specter’s broad gesture, as if they had rehearsed this. Perhaps they had.

  “Shroud has informed me that you’ve been fraternizing with the prey!” Specter clapped his hands together dramatically. “Not merely once or twice, but often, and closely, from what he’s seen.” He examined Ian over Sebastian’s shoulder.

  Sebastian let him, silent.

  “Above and beyond your close association with named quarry, Shroud says he found you out last night hunting. Hunting packmates. Do I need to remind you what the penalty is for raising a blade against a fellow pack member without calling challenge?” Specter crossed his arms. “I am a patient man. But really, Cain, I expect some honesty out of you! You could have refused, let me know the truth, told me how you felt . . . I did ask, Cain. But oh well. Here we all are.”

  Sebastian curled a lip. He’d forgotten how much Specter loved the sound of his own voice.

  Specter flicked his hands at them. “Back up, if you please.”

  The pack moved forward. Sebastian counted seven. He couldn’t take them all. The elevator doorway gave him a narrow point to stand off, but he knew Specter would beat him. And hoping Specter would stay out of any fight had to be the most unrealistic wish Sebastian had ever made. It would be madness to resist.

  “No,” he said anyway, running over and over in his head how he might make this work . . . nothing came. If he fought them, they would win. If they left him alive, he would almost certainly be injured, and at a disadvantage if another opportunity to fight arose. Tricks or games might work, except that Specter had taught him all he knew
of verbal play. It was too possible he would see through anything Sebastian tried.

  Specter stopped. Made a face like laughter, a soundless laugh that did not reflect in his dark eyes. “No?”

  The pack gathered behind their leader, faces hard, awaiting orders. Ready to carry out Specter’s smallest whim, ready to destroy a stranger for reasons none of them understood – nor cared to understand.

  Slaves.

  The word hit Sebastian hard, but he could not think of another way to describe them.

  For that is what they are.

  Shock though it was to think of them as such, to think of himself as such, he had no time to contemplate it now. Sebastian narrowed his eyes.

  “Your leader has spoken.” Specter’s voice was cold. “Back upstairs. Now.”

  The members of the pack pushed closer, subtly. Threatening. Sebastian could either take them up to his home, or they would force him to do so. Nothing would change that.

  He let his sword down, stood straight. Ian said his name, small, unsure. Specter’s poisonous grin returned as Sebastian’s blade lowered. Still grinning, he herded them back onto the elevator. The rest of the pack followed.

  There was just enough room for them all. Sebastian crushed Ian behind him into a corner, using himself to shield her. He knew every pack member there picked up on his intention. Beyond one smug and superior grin, none of them gave any indication that they noticed.

  Specter held out his hand. “I assume there’s a key?”

  Sebastian pulled his key out of his pocket and handed it over. Specter used it. Didn’t give it back. The elevator whirred and lifted them up, groaning at the weight.

  Behind him, Ian grabbed his arm with shaking fingers. None of the pack faced Ian or Sebastian on the ride up. A pointed insult. They could take Ian at any time and knew he would not be able to stop them. Upstairs, Amanda and Josephine would become targets as well. The pack would exult in the opportunity to taste them both, more so at the unexpected pleasure of having Amanda both living and dead. Unless the women hid themselves or escaped and ran fast and far enough away. Sebastian doubted they could.

  The members of the pack had sworn loyalty to Specter and to one another, bonds that still applied. They would not kill Sebastian without calling challenge. So he was safe from the pack – until Specter called challenge on him again. As he knew Specter intended. Sebastian could save them only by winning that challenge. His jaw tightened.

  The elevator doors slid open on the living room. Josephine stood from a chair, a frown on her face. Sebastian watched her expression turn cold as she saw, watched her snatch up the sword at her side.

  Specter stepped off and his pack followed him. Sebastian and Ian had to exit last. Sebastian pushed himself in front of Ian, lifting a hand to hit the garage button before stepping off. A thin chance, but better than nothing. He heard Ian start forward and stop as the doors lumbered shut.

  Syren, a small dark woman, shot her hand out to catch the doors. Sebastian knew her, had trained her. She did not do well at hand-to-hand, so Sebastian lunged for her, caught her arm and twisted it behind her. Another one, a newer member, lurched forward and hit the call button before the elevator could leave. The doors slid open again. Ian stood inside, confused and shaking. The newer one took her arm to lead her off. Ian jerked her arm free of him, much to the pack’s amusement, but she followed him off. Sebastian released Syren. She shook her arm out, grinning at him.

  Damn.

  “Nice try,” Specter said, as the strange one set himself up as Ian’s guard. The elevator slid shut and quietly left.

  Specter waved a hand at Josephine, who was trying to block the hall. Syren shot Sebastian a glare as she drew her sword and left him, followed by Dragon. The pair exchanged a glance. Dragon hung back, holding an inviting hand towards Josephine. Syren drew her sword and squared off with Josephine.

  Josephine brought her sword up in the guard position they had been working on earlier. Syren had skill with her blade, but Josephine defended herself beautifully, lithe and quick. When she scored a solid hit of her own, Sebastian dared to hope she might find victory – in a snake-quick motion, Syren bound Josephine’s sword and tossed it away, setting her sword against Josephine’s neck none too gently. Dragon darted down the hall as soon as Josephine was disarmed, checking doors. Josephine glared at Syren, her lips pressed tight. A thin line of red appeared along the blade’s edge.

  Sebastian’s chest constricted. Anger . . . and something else, something that fueled the anger. An ache, a soreness. He took a soft, deep breath and exhaled carefully.

  Specter did not miss it. The leader tapped his chin, his eyes boring into Sebastian. “Well, well.”

  Damn.

  Specter strolled closer to Josephine, while Syren wrenched Josephine’s arms behind her to hold her more securely. There was a soft cracking sound as she did. Josephine’s eyes clenched shut. Sebastian refused to look away. As if by watching her suffer, he might ease it somehow.

  “And here I thought it was that little whelp who had you so interested. Well.” Specter bowed ironically to Sebastian. “I couldn’t honestly imagine it, but then, I couldn’t see why else you’d be so intrigued with her.” He turned back to Josephine, an appreciative smile spread over his face.

  “Don’t touch me,” Josephine hissed at him, drawing herself up straight.

  He stood back, amused. “This one’s a little more your style, Cain. Older, more –” he licked his lips – “experienced.” He smiled in a parody of politeness at Josephine. “Josephine Gray, I believe it is? Daughter of the Noble House Chester of England, am I right?” He smiled at Josephine’s startled expression.

  Sebastian was unmoved. Specter made it a hobby to know things about other vampires. He enjoyed how it unnerved them.

  “Made by Lillian Gray – How is dear Lillian, by the way? Oh!” Specter put a hand to his mouth. “That’s right. She killed herself, didn’t she?” Specter smiled sympathetically at Josephine, as if he had merely inquired if Lillian had sprained her ankle. Josephine startled, her eyes going wide, then wet. Her throat worked once, twice.

  “Stop,” Sebastian said. It would have no effect, he knew. But he could not keep silent.

  Specter turned to him, pouting.

  “I’m simply trying to warn you, old friend. Your little plaything here drove her mother to suicide. Do you know why?” Waving one hand in Josephine’s face, Specter went on before Sebastian could say he didn’t care. “Because she wouldn’t love her. I really think you ought to know.”

  The claim would have its base in truth. Specter wouldn’t lie. He would not tell the whole story. But he would not lie.

  Sebastian shrugged. “Get to the point, Specter.” He knew he’d said the wrong thing as soon as it escaped his lips.

  Specter smiled sweetly. “In due time, in due time.” He patted Josephine on the cheek while she glowered at him, fighting her own tears. A sudden need to shred Specter wide open hit Sebastian, leaving him trembling.

  Dragon returned then, pushing Amanda ahead of him. Specter clapped his hands and went to them. The child’s face had turned white, pale even for a vampire. She watched Specter come closer, until she began struggling to get away. She offered no challenge to Dragon. Specter grinned at her.

  “It’s so good to see you up and about. I had thought the next time I’d see you would be in Heaven. Or Hell.” He bared fangs at her, and she whimpered, fighting uselessly against Dragon.

  Specter pouted. “No fun. She’s already panicking. At least she remembers me. I’d fancied she might, but you know how death can affect the mind.” He turned back to Josephine, trailing a finger down her cheek. Sebastian lifted a lip. “So tell me. What attracted you to our little assassin? Was it the number of unsolved murders to his credit? The exemplary pack member he’s been? That his name is known throughout the Old World and the New? You have heard of Cain, haven’t you? He has quite the reputation.”

  Josephine watched Specter with disbelief,
tears trickling down her face. Specter waited for her answer. She breathed in, a sound that cut across Sebastian. He closed his eyes for one second, focusing.

  “I call challenge, Specter.” Sebastian let his hate seep into his voice. “Stop this nonsense and answer me.”

  “Nonsense!” Specter made a shocked face. “We’re just having a nice conversation. But I suppose you’re bored. We’re not talking to you, are we?”

  “Answer me,” Sebastian growled.

  The pack shifted around him. They knew Specter’s tactics, but pack members were not ignored. Not even disobedient ones. Especially when they called challenge.

  Specter sighed again and turned to Josephine. “I’m not done with my conversation yet, Cain. I think you can wait that long.”

  “Then you deny my call?”

  The pack shifted again, looking between Sebastian and their leader. To deny challenge was to admit weakness – and accept death.

  Specter turned back to Sebastian, black eyes snapping with rage. “I’ll tell you what I’m doing, Cain.” He took the space between them in a few long strides. “I accept your damn challenge. I welcome it. And when I’ve slaughtered you, I’ll take that lovely creature there –” he waved a hand at Josephine – “and I’ll give her to your brothers and sisters. You recall what that’s like, don’t you? How we feast on them while they scream and fight to escape, until their struggles end and they decay into nothing? You did it often enough. And then we’ll have a second treat.” He aimed a gesture at Amanda. She whimpered. “Two in one night! What a feast! But I won’t be joining them, because I’ll have one all to myself. That little brat of Durand’s. She seems like a sweet morsel, doesn’t she?” He had pushed his face close to Sebastian’s now, hissing. “In fact, I don’t think I can wait. I’ve waited to taste her for years and I’m out of patience. I accept your challenge, Cain, but first I want you to watch me drink that little traitor’s spawn.”

  Specter spun, taking his face away from Sebastian’s and turned to Ian. Sebastian turned with him, caught Specter’s expression just before he saw for himself –